Device for indicating time



March 15, 19271,

F. c.' MEACHAM DEVICE FOR INDICATING TIME Filed April 27, 19 .5

BY M

H15 ATTORNEKS these spaces are again preferably dividech, asby the lines23, 2A,.into-four equal parts, The lines 22, aswell as the outerextremities of: the two diameters; may be numbered, as indicatedlatii27,ingthe'same manner: as'the- Patented Mar. 15, 19

' FREDE'BICK'O. MEA'CHA'M, or GARDENCITY,"NEw YonK.

DEVICE ron nmron'rrne TrME:

Application; filed .Apri1.27, 1926: SeriaLNo. 104 937.

invention relates t'ov a device for use lHr'tlle determining; of time byobserving the this IS acco1nposition of certain. stars; plished': bysetting my device, so that the relative position. of the stars, followedby certainv calculations; or by. direct readings indicate thetime whenthe observations are m'atde,.. as will be hereinafter fully set: forth.Theobject'tofr my invention is to producea simple. and inexpensivedevice which will permit the. quick and easy determination of therelative positions of the North Star and th'e "Pointers in Ursa Majorwlth a remarkable degree of. accuracy underathe conditions'in which thedevicev is ordinarily used; anotherobject. of -my invention is toprovidea device fon suchlpurpose an'd other.

purposes. such as those relating to navigation, which shalllbe: compact:and easily portable and which. at the same time may be capable of.refinement inaccuracy ofmanufacture for. various-uses: 1 1

Figal: of the; accompanyingdrawing is a;

plan viewofi one fornr off my. device and indicatesa:method.ofi.usingthe device.- Fig; 2 is a planview of' an improvedmodification thereof; r

This application is a; continuation in-part ofinry priorapp-licationzfiled November 13, 1925-,aS'eria llN0; 68 815, inrwhichthedevice; of Fig. l. is fullyillustrateds and described.

In Fig 1 of the. drawing. 21 represents a disk;which may be oftransparent. material, such as. celluloid: The disk. is preferanydivided into four equal sectors by the perpendicular"diameters 25, 26'.The periphery ofi'thez disk isalso divided. into twelve equalispacess bythe. diameters and the lines indicated v at52'2 or by other suitablemeansfor indicating the. divisions; ofv the disk;

dial of a clock, from 1 to. 12 inclusive. A-tthe outer: end of onediameter, adjacent the numeral. 12; I prefer to' place. anoutwardlypointing arrow'-head,ior other easily noticeable mark 28'. to. indicateclearly: the uppermost point of the disk which corre-;

sponds to the zenithi Inthis form of the. device, a central aper- 30vwhich may betransparent. The arm;

when extended, projects beyond the outer I edge of the disk. Theeyeletlis: riveted over a portion of the 311211 tolhold it inrotatablerelation 1 tothe disk. The eyelet-29 ispreferably atrue eyelet- -i.e.,.of such character;

and convenience in carrying. The longitn dina-lv center of therarm. isdefined, .as by the I It willlbeunderstoodthat thisw smerely forcompactness-5' line 32, which preferably extends-from the: f

outer end ofthe arm to a pointwhich (when thearm is:fullyextended);meet's or crosses the edge of the disk.vIt=wil1ofcourse:be

understood that other suitable means may; be used to define; by-means;of: the-arm,. a radlal l1ne:;;for example, the: outer end of the arm maybeofi'set so that; one. edge".

thereof liesalong. a radius: (extended) of the disk. H

my device; this: method enables an surprisingly accurate. calculation.of time, at. least when used at or' near a line of: longitude whichdetermines the standardtime forthat locality.v Of course, when my deviceisused' at some. distancereast or west ofxsueh linen.

$5 I will now describe one methodbfusing? of longitude, the calculatedtime will notagree so well with the standard-time but it will everywhereagree very-"closely-rwith the, truetime or sun-time; e In the. methodhere described; 1 device is-used to determine'the'relative'position ofthe North. Star or Polaris :and. the two stars in the constellation UrsaMajor'krrown asi- Alpha and Beta orthe.fPointers?.-

device" is .held: before the eyesof the: ob

server-.say eight inches. from the eyes-,

with the arrow-head 28 pointing:towardthe: zenith and the diameter 25 invertical p'o'si tion. The presence of the two diameters on: the face ofthe disk assists the observer in properly'positioning! it. The diskshouldLbe' held so as to lie in: afplanei perpendicular to. the line ofvision. between: the observer: and Polaris- The arm 3O having 'beenfull-y extended; the device is then so-positi-oned ture isi stamped outof the material 20fthe disk and I a small metalli eyeleti 29' inserted.therein: Carried :by the-eyelet'QQ is an arm 1 that Polaris is visiblethrough the hole at the center ofv the disk-as indicated at 33 in thedrawing. The arm 30 is then rotated,

without disturbing the position of the disk,

until the Pointers "of the constellation Ursa Major, indicated at 34,35,lie along the line 32 or the line 32 if continued. This adjustmenthaving been made, the relative position of the stars is read by takingthe reading on the disk as determined by the position of the line 32.

Suppose, for example, the reading is, as.

indicated in :the drawing, approximately 1 suppose also that the readingis taken on August 8 in any year. Then to determine the timethefollowing calculations are made: Start with the readingin this case,

' 1 add to that the number of months and the fraction that have elapsedduring the calendar, year in this case 7 4 (January to July, inclusive,being ,7 and the eight. days of August being approximately one quariter) the sum then equals 8%; next, double so that the net result will beless than 12.

Proceeding thus in the example given, 12 is deducted from 22%, leaving10%'wh ch 7 means that the time is 10.45.

The modified 'I'orm illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings is based uponthe same prin ciples above described in connection with Fig. 1 of thedrawings. In this device, however, it is unnecessary to calculate'timein hours after the readings of the disk have been made. i

Referring to Fig. 2, the numeral 41 indicates a disk similar to that of21 in Fig. 1, and may be 'made of any suitable sheet material having thenecessary degree of stiffness. The margin of this disk however, isdivided into twenty four equal parts numbered as two series of 12 each,representing. thetwo sets of 12 hours ofany one day, as indicated at4243. The spaces between the longer hour marks may be divided into fourparts, indicating quarter hours or any number of corresponding partsindicating other fractions of an hour. Within the outer margin of thedisk 41 is a second series of divisions, the main portions of whichconstitute 12v spaces representing the twelve months of the year from January to December, as indicated by the numerals 44. The

spaces between the longer lines forming these divisions are preferablydivided into six equal parts, which correspond respectively to the 5th,10th, 15th, 20th and 25th days of the respective months. Obviously,these divisions may be arranged to cover shorter periods, depending uponthe size of the apparatus in which they are embodied.

' cular scale 44.

The disk 21 is provided with a central aperture, through which passes asmall .metallic tubular member or eyelet, providing a small hole throughwhich a sight may the arm 46, if not made of transparent material asabove described, is preferably cut away along a central longitudinalline,

as indicated at 49, so that the edge formed by said cutaway portion maybe used as .a

sight to enable the arm to be positioned on e A the Pointer stars, asabove described. shortline or marker 50 is provided on the arm 46 and isso located when the arm is extended to come opposite to the divisions onthe hour scales 42 and 43. These parts are arranged to be movable inrelation to the disk, substantially as described in connection withFig.1. The eyelet 45 also retains in position a second slotted army 51,similar to the arm 46, but having a somewhat shorter slot 52, the. endof which when allow' the divisions in the circular scale 44 to beobserved therethrough. Thlsarmis also provided with a central markingline '53, which will indicate the exact position ot' thearm 51 on thedisk, so that it may be the arm is extended is so positioned as to itplaced opposite the nearest date on the cir- The manner of using thisform of my devicemay be described. as follows: The arm '51 is pulledoutward as far as possible and then is rotated until the line 53 comesoppositethe date on which the observation is being made. The disk isthen placed before the eyes in the same man-' ner as described inconnection with the device of Fig. 1, so that the North Star will beseen through the eyelet 45, and as near as possible to the center of theeyelet. The

disk and the arm 51 are then rotatedin unison so that the center line ofthe arm 51' lies as near as possible in a vertical plane,

passing through the North Star and the body ot'the observer, the diskitself being held so as to lie in a plane perpendicular to the line ofvision between the observer and the North Star.

a The arm 46' is then rotated-about the eyes let 45 until one or both ofthe two Pointer.

stars of Ursa Major lie on the line 49. The

parts are then in position for a direct reading of the hour at which theobservation is taken. In the drawing, as shown in F ig. 2, the line 53is set at a division corresponding to April 15th. *VVith the two Pointerstars in the position shown in Fig. 2, the line 50. comes between thedivision indicating 4.00 oclock and the next division indicating 4.15,and is practically one-third of the distance between said divisions,thus time, that is, they may be adapted for use i 7 central eyelet 33 or45.

as instruments to determine longitude, andv when used in connection withthe usual navigational tables may also be employed to determinelatitude. In determining longitude, it will be apparent that when thehour of the day corresponding to the reference meridian is known bymeans of a chronometer and the time of the observation determined asabove described, the difference bevtween these respective times willindicate the time consumed in the angular rotation of theearth beyondsaid reference meridian adjacent to which the deviceis designed to beused, it being understood, of course, that either one'or bothof thePointer stars are on the reference line of the arms 30 or 46 and thePolar star is observed through the The angular rotation thus found willgive the difference in longitude between the reference meridian andthepoint of observation. f

As above. stated, I am aware that modifications may be made by thoseskilled in the art in my device for indicating time.

I therefore do not wish to be understood as arrangement of partsherein-described, but desire protection for all forms of my device asmay come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

It will also be apparent that the device is capable of much refinementin design and manufacture, and may be constructed as a precisioninstrument by the use of usual telescopic sights, vernier scales andother devices used in connection with accurate astro- 1 nomicalinstruments. 7

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A steller time indicator comprising a body provided with a planesurface having a scale thereon whose divisions represent fractions of aday and provided with means i for sighting and coordinating with saidscale, one of the stars being observed, means carried'on said body forsighting'and determining the radial direction of another of said starswith reference to the divisions of said scale, and means for indicatingthe re-' quired fixed position on which said scale is to be placed withreference to said stars.

2. A stellar time indicator comprising a plate having a central openingand a plurality of divisions at its margin representing the fractions ofa day and arrangedin circular series and having indicating means fordetermining the required fixed position on which said scale is 'to beplaced with reference to the zenith, and a member rotatable about saidcentral opening and provided with a reference line adapted to be placedto intersect one of said stars.

V 3. A stellar time indicator comprising a disk having a central openingand a marginal scale, means forindicating the position on which adiametral line of the disk is to be placed withreference to the. zenithwhen an observation is being made, and a movable member adapted torotate about said opening and having a reference line adapted to beplaced so asto'intersectone' of the stars being observed and to indicatecertain divi- .sions on said scale. I

4. A stellar time indicator comprising a disk having a central openingand ts margin having a scale divided into equal. II12L1I1 divisionsrepi'esenting'hours of the day, the marks forming such divisions beingnumbered consecutively from 1 to 12, there also being means forindicating the position on which a diametral line of the disk is to beplaced with reference to the zenith when an observation is being made,an arm pivoted to rotate about said central opening in the disk andprovided with a reference line adapted to be placed to intersect one ofa plurality of stars being observed and to indi- V 'cate certaindivisions on said scale. being limited to the details of form andthereon, representing two sets of twelve hours of a day each, and alsohaving a sec- 0nd scale whose main divisions represent the twelve monthsof a year and whose minor divisions represent equal numbers of days ineach month, said disk having acentral,

opening, through which the North Star may be observed, a pivoted memberadapted to rotate about said opening in the plane of said disk, andhaving a reference line adapted to be placed to intersect another of thestars being observed and to indicate second member rotatable about saidcentral opening having a reference line adapted to be set on the date ofobservation as provided on said disk, said line also being adapted to bedirected toward the zenith in a plane substantially at right angles to aline connecting the observer with the North Star.

FREDERICK o. MEAGHAM.

the hour of observation on said disk, anda I

